


On the (Un)Importance of Sartorial Choices

by ERNest



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Bandits & Outlaws, Gen, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, parables
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 12:01:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15630294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ERNest/pseuds/ERNest
Summary: The Bishop of Digne gives a sermon and reflects on an incident.





	On the (Un)Importance of Sartorial Choices

Brothers and Fellow Gardeners in Christ:

Some weeks ago while I was visiting very dear old friends in Chastelar, the hand of Providence worked through a man I had heard of but never met. I hesitate to call it a miracle, because it was a very small matter.

It began because I had no clothes. Not a man, but an altar had been stripped bare by bandits, leaving neither surplice nor chalice. Perhaps not what Christ meant when he asked his cup taken away. Myself, I would have been content with the meanest and lowliest of priestly robes, and the truth that would shine through my words. However, my colleague the Abbé de Chastelar, was not so easily contented, especially when he learned of my intent to sing the Te Deum. The clothes are part of the ceremony, he insisted. Very well; I commend him for his duty — it was not of himself that he thought, but of me, and even more he thought of his flock. Attention may be caught and redirected by things that shine, so the sun is no less important to growth than the Son. So he spoke of the Te Deum in his sermon.

As this worthy father speaks and the churches throughout the countryside are searched, I pray you will indulge me in a brief reflection. Many of my parishioners know how I love plants of all kinds, and that the herbs and vegetables I grow are always available for the use of the hospital and anyone else who has need of their properties. One before me and better has already considered how the lilies of the field neither toil nor spin, yet are clothed no less beautiful than King Solomon. It was this faith which guided me through a region many had urged me to avoid, citing the danger I would surely face. This same faith allowed me to sit in stillness and wait to see what would happen.

And yet, these lilies — it seems to me that even were they the homeliest little plants, they would still deserve water, warmth, and light, and they would still find a way to thrive. They have done nothing to earn their beauty just as nettles have done nothing to earn either their plainness or the reputation heaped on them by ungrateful men who do not understand their value. These, and our own lots in life, are a gift, and all we can do is all we can do.

A thing need not be beautiful to be useful; and need not be useful to be important; and need not be important to have value. God indeed will provide, but the clothes do not make the man.

Nevertheless, there appeared a simple crate at the doors of the church, containing a less than simple cargo. God returned the raiments stolen from the cathedral at Embrun a month before, and Cravatte was the noble bandit who signed the note. Whether the word of God reached this man or his own humanity leaped up to answer the call is uncertain. After all, perhaps the motivation is not as important that good was done by his hands.

Some even suggested it was my reputation which prompted this act, though as a simple ex-sinner I find it unlikely. Others claimed that the Devil himself stooped to do some good in this world for dark and dismal purposes of his own, and I must reject that explanation as well.

All I know is that I sang neither better nor worse in an archbishop’s cope than I would have been in a curé’s surplice, and if Cravatte’s was the only heart I reached that day, I am content.

Now go in peace, serve the Lord, and until we meet again, I encourage you to consider the lilies of the field.


End file.
